Activists press them to decry dogfighting

Don't Miss:'Got Milk' nixed'Amazing Race' proposalSierra snow update: Banzai racingApple glitch partly fixedMost tweeted Olympic sportAtlanta Falcons Men Nike Free 5.0 V3 quarterback Michael Vick faces federal charges in connection with dogfighting that allegedly occurred on his property, but he is meeting swifter justice in the court of corporate responsibility.

Emboldened by the campaign that pressured MSNBC and CBS advertisers and helped oust syndicated disc jockey Don Imus after he made racist and sexist statements earlier this year, animal rights activists aren't waiting for prosecutors to make their case against Vick. They are targeting both Vick's main sponsor, the sportswear behemoth Nike, and the National Football League with well organized campaigns demanding that the two entities distance themselves from Vick and denounce dogfighting.

It's the latest sign of how celebrities can be dethroned when public forces demand accountability from corporate sponsors. And it shows how those forces are using new media organizing tactics to make their points directly.

Quickly organized, small, bicoastal protests on Friday one at Nike's Oregon headquarters, the other outside the NFL's New York office were just the start of multipronged campaigns to increase public pressure on Vick's corporate partners while the wheels of justice creak forward. An online e mail campaign orchestrated by the 10 million member Humane Society which ordinarily targets institutions, not individuals has driven 200,000 messages protesting Vick to NFL headquarters in just a few days.

Next week, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) activists plan to demonstrate outside the Falcons' training camp when it begins Thursday, the day that Vick and the three others charged in the indictment are scheduled to appear in federal court in Virginia. Organizers believe it will be the first protest outside a sports franchise for the animal rights organization, which is better known for street theater actions like having its activists ice skate seminude to decry the wearing of animal skins.

While PETA has long protested against celebrities who wear fur, organizers say they are leaping at the opportunity to object to Vick because he is the rare public figure who is alleged to have direct involvement in animal abuse.

Analysts say that appealing directly to Vick's employers and sponsors could provide swifter justice and high visibility for their anti dogfighting campaign than waiting for the court to decide his fate.

"I'm not sure that some consumers want to wait around until the law runs its course," said Dan Rascher, an associate professor of sports management at the University of San Francisco.

To activists horrified by the allegations of animal abuse, there is no time to wait. They do agree that Vick is innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. But they say he must take some responsibility immediately for the dead animals found on his property.

"The trial? Who knows how long it could take?" Humane Society of the United States CEO Wayne Pacelle said. "Six months, a year, two years? Michael Vick is going to continue to be a hero to little kids. And when they see that he is associated with dogfighting, and that it's tolerated by the NFL and Nike, they're going to think that it's OK."

"There's the court of law, and there's the court of public opinion," Dan Shannon, assistant director of campaigns for PETA, said. "If people don't take a stand against dogfighting, like Nike and the NFL, they run the risk of being publicly embarrassed as more is found out about what went on" allegedly at Vick's property.

In a letter sent Friday to Nike President Mark Parker, PETA Vice President Bruce Friedrich referred to some of the more gruesome allegations in the indictment. "Whether Michael Vick personally doused dogs in water and electrocuted them, hanged them, beat them, (drowned) them, shot them, slammed them into the ground and forced them to fight to the death is a question that will be determined in a court of law," Friedrich wrote, "but Vick will be forever associated with cruelty to animals and so will Nike unless it acts today."

So far, both of Vick's corporate connections have stuck by him, but that could change early next week, at least as far as Vick's NFL career is concerned.

"The alleged activities are very disturbing, and we are extremely disappointed Michael Vick has put himself in this position," NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said in a statement Friday.

Earlier this week, Nike said it would suspend the release of the Zoom Vick V shoe, scheduled to hit stores Aug. 23. In a statement released Thursday, the company said it "is concerned by the serious and highly disturbing allegations made against Michael Vick, and we consider any cruelty to animals inhumane and abhorrent. We do believe that Michael Vick should be afforded the same Men Nike Free 3.0 Run + 2S due process as any citizen; therefore, we have not terminated our relationship."

But activists shouldn't expect Nike to roll over quickly.

"Nike has a long tradition of standing by its athletes. It's one of the things that gives them credibility among professional athletes," said Fred Schreyer, who was Nike's director of sports marketing for seven years and is a former sports agent. He is now commissioner of the Professional Bowlers Association.

Though he personally considers the allegations in the indictment abhorrent, Schreyer expects Nike to wait until the legal process concludes, "because they have nike free australia the luxury of doing that. Their business is so diverse. And part of Nike's image is to be controversial."

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Activist at Quest

'Behind the Swoosh' anti sweatshops activist to speak at Quest

Jim Keady had life all mapped out: Go to a good college, play high level soccer, find a trophy wife, Men Nike Roshe Run Anti-Fur become a broker and a millionaire, retire young.

Dynamic, energetic and focused, he moved down that path. Yet he began to seek spiritual nourishment and to see life goals differently. Then, when Keady was a master degree candidate in theology and graduate assistant soccer coach at top ranked St. John University, the athletic department required him to wear Nike gear, thanks to a multimillion dollar endorsement contract, or lose his job. He refused, left the university, and a new path opened.

Keady since has spent 12 years investigating, filming and bedeviling the sportswear giant on the issue of fair wages and working conditions for factory employees in developing nations. April 21 in the Campus Center auditorium.

Rachel MacWhorter, director of the Student Association Programming Board, said last year board made the choice of Keady as a featured speaker for Quest, and she feels it a terrific one in the rich world of Quest ideas, issues and research.

think it really going to be beneficial, said MacWhorter, a senior business administration major. has ties to lots of majors on campus. Many people don think about what we wear, like Nike, and I think it will stir a lot of that discussion and thought. view

Keady, who had done research on Nike at St. John decided he wanted to know for himself what was going on at Nike supplier factories in Indonesia and elsewhere.

going to go find out, he says in the documentary entitled the Swoosh that has become an iconic face of the Team Sweat and Educating for Justice organizations. want to see it, I want to smell it, I want to hold it in my hand. 2000, Keady joined fellow activist and college classmate Leslie Kretzu living the sweatshop life in a Nike supplier factory in Indonesia. They worked for and tried to live on $1.25 a day for a month. The no holds barred video they produced showed the world the difficulties of living that way.

Nike, weary of its swoosh logo as target for anti sweatshop campaigners like Keady, began a three year monitoring plan and, in 2005, earned accreditation from the Fair Labor Association and praise from former critics. It long has said it works diligently to monitor and improve conditions cheap nike free in its supplier factories.

Keady acknowledges Nike has made some reforms, but the activist says the company has a long way to go in providing fair wages, factory monitoring and worker negotiating rights.

This year Quest on April 21 features at least 275 student and faculty presenters, the music of the West Bengali group Ganga, a display of environmentally advanced cars, a six foot tall exhibit with tracks for marbles, creative writing awards and much more.

Jack Gelfand, Quest coordinator and director of the Office of Research and Special Programs, roams his planning room and gestures excitedly from one list of undergraduate research projects to another. Here he points out a presentation titled Power Potential in New York State. There, another titled Ecology of Coyotes in New York State. Here, he sees Qiong June Dong, professor of marketing and management, pulling together a series of presentations on humanitarian logistics in catastrophes like the Jan. 12 earthquake in Haiti. There, Gelfand sees one end of the Campus Center arena dotted with an electric car, a wood gas conversion truck, a Smart car and other vehicles. in the arena. really looking forward to this, Gelfand said. booths and the cars in the arena is going to be a real show. Rarely have the same actors performed both plays on the same stage, making this residency a must see for lovers of the theatre. The famed New York City theater troupe has received a Tony Award for Excellence in Theater among many other honors. $18, including parking in front of Culkin Hall or adjacent lot. ($5 for SUNY Oswego students) $25 ticket combo to both "Hamlet" and "Rosencrantz." 312 2141. Rarely have the same actors performed both plays on the same stage, making this residency a must see for lovers of the theatre. The famed New York City theater troupe has received a Tony Award for Excellence in Theater among many other honors. $18, including parking in front of Culkin Hall or adjacent Men Nike Free 3.0 V3 lot. ($5 for SUNY Oswego students) $25 ticket combo to both "Hamlet" and "Rosencrantz." 312 2141.

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